Firefighters in Holderness, Sanbornton handle snow first

By DAN SEUFERTUnion Leader CorrespondentFebruary 13. 2014 9:52PMHOLDERNESS — Firefighters called to fight two Lakes Region fires late Thursday afternoon found themselves battling increasingly heavy snow and slippery roads to get at the blazes.

There were no injuries reported as crews battled a basement fire at 28 Threshing Mill Road in Sanbornton and at a student's dorm room at 33 Chapel St. in Holderness at Holderness School.

Fire trucks for several area communities tried to reach the home in Sanbornton at 5:25 p.m., but were held up at the bottom of a hill on the road leading to the house because the road was too slippery, fire officials said.

A second alarm was called at 5:35 p.m.

Firefighters were able to contain the small fire to the basement. It was caused by an overheated pellet stove, officials said, and minor damage was done to the basement.

At 4:45 p.m., fire crews from several area towns were called to the Holderness School dormitory room for a reported fire, said Capt. Randy Eastman. Snow slowed travel time but did not hinder the emergency crews from getting to the flames, he said.

They found the fire on a stove in the vacant dorm room, Eastman said.

"It looked like the student was cooking something and left," he said.

Sprinklers in the dormitory stopped the fire from spreading beyond the stove, Eastman said "There was a lot of water damage," he said. "The sprinklers saved it from becoming a bad situation. Instead, we just have a room and contents lost."

Both fires are under investigation, but neither is considered suspicious in origin, officials said.